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Real world challenges in deploying LTE networks for high speed mobile broadband service
w w w. a n r i t s u . c o m
The mobile industry is now heavily focussed into two key areas of development and innovation, firstly in applications and services driven by innovative new product technologies such as touch screen and user friendly operating systems, and secondly in providing affordable but attractive subscription packages to encourage use of these innovations. Behind the success of this lies the need to provide users with a high speed data/browsing experience that enables easy use of the services, but with cost efficient networks and technologies. To enable this, there are new technologies in LTE to achieve very high data rates and efficient use of radio spectrum such as OFDMA and Resource Scheduling. A key testing technology behind this is the measurement of "throughput" on a device to measure the actual data rates achieved in certain conditions in the network. This article will review the technical issues related to throughput on an LTE network, from both Base Station and Handset sides, and then discuss the techniques being introduced in the industry to measure throughput. Finally, we will analyse some typical results of throughput testing to explain how this relates to the design of LTE base-stations and handsets. The mobile communications industry has been moving rapidly into the area of mobile data services over the last 10 years, with the introduction of GPRS technology to GSM networks to try and provide a more efficient data service, and the with the introduction of HSPA into the 3G networks. The objective of both these technologies is to provide a more efficient use of radio resources (radio capacity) to enable more users to access data services from a single basestation, and provide them with higher data rates for download/upload of data/content. With both of these technologies, the limitation on data rates had been the air interface, as the backhaul connection to the base-station provided a much higher data rate (e.g. 2-10 Mb/s). With the introduction of LTE, where a single base station sector can provide 100-150Mb/s download capacity, then the key issues are now to provide enough backhaul capacity to the site to support the data capacity of the site, and then to have appropriate control mechanisms in the base station to share out this capacity to the users connected in the cell according to their data rate demands and the quality of the radio link to each user.
Figure 1: Radio Access Network - S1 is the physical interface between the eNB and the MME
Data UE or eNB PDCP Packet Data Convergance Protocol PDCP SDUs PDCP PDUs Header
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Transport Block PHY Physical Layer 1 Subframe = 2 slots = 1.0 ms Contains 14 OFDM Symbols
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Utilising the controllable nature of simulator testing, the UE developers also use the technology for deeper investigation of UE performance. As they are able to carefully select and control each parameter of the network and radio link, specific issues can be deeply investigated and then performance improvements and fixes can be accurately and quantifiably measured to confirm correct operation. A key aspect to this testing concept is the ability of the test engineer and designer to see both the Layer 1 (radio link layer) throughput and the Layer 3/PDCP (actual user data) throughput. This enables testers and designers to better understand how much throughput capacity is being used for retransmission of incorrectly received data versus actual user data. Looking at typical results for testing we see that we can provide pass/fail results from the Conformance Test specifications, which provide the baseline for compliance to 3GPP and basic performance. As we go deeper into the testing, we then concentrate on evaluating the throughput at Layer1 and Layer3 separately, and the ratio between these. For measuring the throughput we measure the number of PDUs (Packet Data Units) transmitted and the size/configuration of these PDUs. The Layer1 performance is measured as MAC PDUs, and the Layer3 throughput as PDCP PDUs, We also need to monitor the UE reports that show the measured signal strength (RSRQ), data reception quality (CGI) and acknowledgement of correct data received (ACK/NACK). These reports are used by the base station to select the optimum format to transmit the next packet of data. In addition, where MIMO is being used, there are 2 additional reports from the UE to assist the base station in selecting the optimum MIMO pre-coding. These are the Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) and Rank Indicator (RI) that report the preferred MIMO matrix to be used for the current multipath environment and the number of separate MIMO data paths that are calculated in the UE. As the propagation conditions between UE and base station are reduced, we should see the PDU throughput level reduced. At the same time, the UE should report lower RSRQ and CQI to indicate poorer link quality. It is therefore important to monitor the reports and characterise these across a range of propagation conditions. When these conditions are reduced, we should see the base station scheduler selecting lower data rates (modulation type and coding rate) as the response and hence see lower RRC PDU data rates. In an optimum implementation of both base
station and UE then the MAC PDU rate should fall at the same rate. As the multipath conditions are reduced, and the cross correlation between different paths is increased, the MIMO based data rate improvement should reduce, also shown as a lower PDCP PDU rate. Where the PDCP PDU rate is decreased more than MAC PDU rate, then we should be seeing failed data packet delivery and re-transmission. This is monitored via the ACK/NACK reports from the UE that will turn to more NACK status. As these re-transmissions represent a reduction in network capacity and reduction in user perceived data rate, we must aim to reduce these. Fault tracing is made through the above measurements, ensuring the UE is making correct reports of signal link characteristics and that the base station scheduler is selecting optimum modulation and coding scheme to suit the channel conditions.
Summary.
LTE networks are designed for end to end IP packet data services, and the air interface is optimised to delivery of packet data streams with the most efficient use of radio resources. The mechanisms in the base station and UE create a feedback loop to optimise the selection of most suitable settings for transmitting each individual packet of data. These are based on reporting of channel conditions and adaptation of the OFDMA configuration to match this. Using a laboratory based test environment, which is accurate, controllable and repeatable, we can measure the throughput of an LTE link to see both the actual air interface data rates and also the user perceived data rate. This will also monitor the associated reports to confirm correct operation, baseline the performance of different implementations, and identify possible areas for further optimisation of a design.
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